Hey guys, just got back from SF and thought I'd give my impressions of the game.
First of all I'm REALLY liking it. It feels great, the SS system works well (although I didn't use it to it's potential at all), and it is much harder to hold out of stuns than it used to be. The only characters I used were Ayane, Bass, and Jann Lee, but I got to play against a few others. I think Sarah is either really good, or my lack of knowledge about her really got the better of me.
Let me give my thoughts on the characters I used:
Ayane: She feels ok but I never got the hang of her movement. She has a few strings that go BT or into a roll, but I never got a good feel for when to use them, and they felt like the opponent had an easy time of hitting her out of it. She doesn't do well in the stun game, as it takes a lot to CB! with her, and she only has a CB! from front turned, so you'd have to make sure you do a move that leaves you front facing when it's time to CB!.
She has some really good tools, such as her 11p. Although it has a long start up that can leave you BT if you are CH, it is +4 on block (I think), and gives you a nice crumple stun on hit. Also, her 3f+k, which is now neutral on block, and on CH and NH it gives a sitdown stun with a guaranteed BT4k launcher. But I noticed at the range that the move was most effective in DOA4, the follow up launcher was too far away to hit, so I guess you'd have to hit confirm and roll in for a mix up at those ranges.
Her old 4f+p has changed commands to 64f+p. This added direction may not seem like much, but it was the difference between me using it a lot and using it only sparingly. Her old 33p from DOA2 and 3 is back, and is, I believe, -4 on NH, and it still has the low follow up. Her CB is her old 66p from DOA2 and 3, but the command is now 6p+k.
Her cons, in my initial impressions, were that she was fairly unsafe. Her 6pk is now -7, instead of the -6 that it was in DOA4. This may only be one frame but it was immediately noticeable. I felt very afraid to attack with her as almost all of her moves felt like they had a lot of recovery on them, which made it hard to formulate any offense. The most effective strategy I found was playing a very heavy turtle style, using 3F+K to keep out, and her evasiveness to make opponents whiff (although I wasn't very good at that, getting hit out of spins often). Because I wasn't used to sticking with that strategy, I went back into a DOA4 style, fishing with 3p and trying to stun and mix up, I felt like it was rather difficult to be consistent with her. I do believe, though, that that was mainly due to my inexperience with her rather than the character design itself. Her damage also feels a bit low. I felt like she hit much harder in 4, and in 4 it was much easier to hit her BT PP6P-K juggle ender to get max damage + knockback. I felt myself using BT PP4PP7K instead just to be sure it hit.
All in all, I'd like to see her become a bit safer before launch, and be able to CB sooner in stuns.
Bass:
Bass was the character I used the second most, and I probably should have used him against RyuJin instead of Jann Lee. All I have to say is: Bass. Is. Back. He is very strong in this game, but he is not unstoppable, as he still has trouble against heavy rush down. He has a lot of GB attacks, and while they all aren't advantage, and some will probably become useless since they are the last hit of strings, it is a nice addition, and will help him formulate some kind of offense.
The ones that I found were 6f+k (-4), f+k (+ but don't remember the number), 236p (+4), last hit of 4ppp (+), last hit of 9pkp (+), 33pp (+) and running P, which I believe is safe. I'm sure there are more that I didn't find. The last hit of 3pp is easily see-able, but 4ppp can be mixed up with 4ppp+k, and 9pkp can be mixed up with 9pk2p. Not sure if that will matter, but I see a lot of potential in his GB game.
The best part of the new Bass is his pick up game. After some ground slams, most notably the 6kp juggle ender, Bass gets a free pick up that leaves him at either +13 or 14. This is where the fun starts, and where you can really decide to do anything you want. My mix ups from this were 33p, HCF command grab (does not give you a pick up but guarantees a ground stomp), the 9p string, mixed up between the low and mid BG enders, and 1p to stop stepping. This is going to be the crux of Bass' gameplay, and any Bass player should always be looking for an opportunity get into a position to get into this situation.
His full charged HCF combo throw was also very good, if you could land it. It didn't take very long to charge it up, and I used to when I thought my opponent would counter out of stun. After the first part, you get a chance to do the second part, which is the half circle from down to up motion. The timing is odd at first, but once you get it you won't miss it anymore. After this, I was able to do 9pk -> 6pk ->pick up, and against light weights 8k -> 9pk -> 6pk. The same combo also worked on mid weights, and would give you an auto tech situation from DOA4, but you would be around +twenty-something instead of the +13~14 you get from the pick up, but you would also be a bit further away. You can also decide to finish the throw, and Bass goes up in the air, catches his opponent, and piledrives them, much like Zangeif's ultra 1. To do it all it is pretty much like doing the Izuna Drop.
His CB! is 3p+k. It is very good since it is unholdable, and the opponent will just sidestep if they hold correctly. If you land it, you can either do 33p or 7k, which gives you either 9pk -> 6kp -> pick up, or 4pp -> 6kp against the wall.
I had a lot of trouble against heavy rush down from Sarah. This is somewhere it seems Bass will always struggle, but it only makes sense, as he is a slower character who must have good defense to get his offensive opportunities.
I won't really go over Jann since you all saw what he could do with RyuJin's stellar performance, and you saw how my Jann did when pitted up against his...
Overall, I'm really liking the direction of the game. It feels like the true evolution of DOA3 that DOA4 should have been. My main problem is that there may not be enough unholdable stuns, and it is far too difficult to land a CB!. I feel like you have to go too far into the stun threshold, and you have to make 1 or two more guesses than I would like. This makes them a bit risky, and I feel like they won't be a big part of high level play, and we will only see them in desperate situations where someone really needs the damage.
